KEENE, N.H. – The city of Boston may still be 11 days away from the 2023 Boston Marathon, but UMass Boston Softball would have a marathon of their own in their Little East Conference doubleheader opener at Keene State College on Thursday afternoon, playing 21 total innings across both games. After an 11-inning thriller in game one which saw UMass Boston Softball score six unanswered runs to take the lead before falling 7-6 to Keene State College, the Beacons would snag a 10-inning victory over the Owls, 6-5, after Keene State tied the game up in the bottom of the seventh inning.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 6, Keene State College 7 (11 Innings)
UMass Boston 6, Keene State College 5 (10 Innings)
UMass Boston (14-4, 1-1 LEC)
Keene State College (5-13, 1-1 LEC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: UMass Boston 6, Keene State College 7 (11 Innings)
The Beacons looked to gain the early advantage, getting senior infielder
Haley Tilberry and senior outfielder
Sydney Sanden on with one out. UMass Boston would load the bases with two outs following a walk to freshman infielder
Lauren Miner, but sophomore utility player
Amauri English's fly out would quell the scoring chance for the Beacons.
Keene State would take advantage of the fielding woes of UMass Boston after a leadoff hit batter by junior pitcher
Bri Melchionda followed by a double from sophomore outfielder CC Chadwick put two runners in scoring position with no outs in the third. Melchionda would come back to strike out the next hitter in freshman infielder Kalle Halvorsen, but a throwing error by junior infielder
Lauryn Bethea allowed both runners to score and an RBI groundout by sophomore outfielder Liv Whittier saw the Owls take a 3-0 lead before Melchionda escaped the inning.
Following a two-out walk to Bethea in the fourth, senior catcher
Tam Landry notched her first collegiate home run, a two-run shot to left field, trimming UMass Boston's deficit down to one, 3-2. After Melchionda would navigate through trouble in the fourth and fifth, it would be smart baserunning by Landry in the sixth inning to tie the game up at three.
Getting on with a one-out single, Landry would steal second and then advance to third on a wild pitch by sophomore pitcher Lilah Demmy. Senior first baseman
Jordan Toomey would then ground the ball back to Demmy who held Landry at third before throwing out Toomey at first, but the senior would break for home immediately and score the game's tying run. After the Beacons strung together a pair of singles and a walk with two outs to load the bases, Demmy would come back to strike out Melchionda to keep the game even.
Defense would reign supreme until the international rule went into effect in the 10
th inning in which freshman outfielder
Sofie Richland's sacrifice bunt pushed Toomey to third who would come home on the RBI double from Tilberry to put the Beacon back in front. An RBI groundout by Melchionda and another RBI double from Miner put UMass Boston seemingly back in control, 6-3, heading to the home half of the inning.
But the Owls would respond with three runs of their own to extend the game after a two-run double from senior infielder Sara Cote and an RBI groundout senior catcher Grace Hallett to send the game to an 11
th inning. With the runner on third and no outs, sophomore outfielder Amanda Cerretani lofted a fly ball to English in right field who overthrew Landry at the plate. Landry scrambled to get the ball off the bounce, diving at sophomore pitcher Carissa Miller who slid in just ahead of her tag to give Keene State the 7-6 victory in 11 innings.
Game 2: UMass Boston 6, Keene State College 5 (10 Innings)
After coming in to pitch the 11
th, junior pitcher
Emily Doble would get the start in game two and allow a run in the first inning after a leadoff triple by sophomore infielder Molly Murray gave way to a Cote sacrifice fly. However, the Beacon bats responded immediately in the second inning as Miner led off the inning with her team-leading third home run on the year against sophomore pitcher Mia Ferry to tie the score back up at one.
The bats of Murray and Cote would once again do the damage for the Owls and put them back in front of UMass Boston in the third inning as Cote's home run to left field after a single by Murray gave Keene State a two-run advantage, 3-1, after three innings of play, before the Beacon offense mounted another response in the fourth.
With her second hit of the game, Miner's leadoff double gave way to a single by English, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Toomey's RBI groundout would score Miner and move English to third before Ferry retired the next two batters to keep Keene State in front by one run, 3-2. The Beacons would have a chance to put two runners in scoring position with two outs in the fifth on Sanden's double, but Richland would be thrown out on her way to third, as the Owls avoided another Beacon threat.
For the third time in the game, it was the duo of Murray and Cote going to work against UMass Boston and providing the offense for Keene State. Murray's second triple of the game made way for another RBI base knock by Cote which re-upped the Owl lead to two runs in the fifth, 4-2. The Beacons would have a chance to cash in on some runs against Miller in the sixth, loading up the bases after a two-out throwing error.
It would be freshman designated player
Adrianna Fusco coming through with a two-run single to tie the game up at four all. An infield single by
Sofie Richland in the next at-bat would give the Beacons their first lead of the game, 5-4, before Miller would get Tilberry to strike out and end the UMass Boston rally. Keene State would tie things up in the bottom of the seventh after getting two on with two outs when an error by Miner allowed sophomore designated player Allison Adams to reach safely and send the game to extra innings.
Sophomore catcher
Kaitlyn Sawyer would finally break the 5-5 tie in the 10
th inning with the international rule in place, lacing an RBI double to score the ghost runner in Miner. The key play in the bottom of the 10
th to secure the win for the Beacons came on a single by Adams in which Sanden threw out the ghost runner in Ferry trying to score on the play as Doble shut down the Owls for the final two outs and the 6-5 victory.
BY THE NUMBERS
- In game one, Bri Melchionda went 10 innings allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits while striking out eight and walking one, she remains 8-0 on the mound this season
- With her third home run of the season, Lauren Miner now has the most home runs in a single season by a UMass Boston player since Roxanne Vento who hit three home runs during the 2019 season
- In game 2, Emily Doble went the full 10 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on 11 hits while striking out six and walking one, she is now 5-4 in the circle this season
- Molly Murray and Sara Cote paced the Keene State offense in game two, going 5-for-9 with two singles, two triples, a home run, four RBIs, and four runs scored. All four Owls' runs were plated by Cote in the game
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston returns home for their first Little East Conference doubleheader at UMB Softball Field this season as they welcome the University of Southern Maine on Saturday afternoon with game one slated to start at 1:00 PM. The Beacons snapped a five-game losing streak against the Huskies last spring with a 1-0 win in game two of their road doubleheader. UMass Boston's last home win against Southern Maine came in 2018, also a 1-0 win.
